~Nothing struck fear into a young boy like the high dive tower at Blakely's. Or perhaps you preferred the water slide at Maple Plunge. But to a young man, Lake Millerton or Lost Lake was the destination. Remember the ice rink in Pinedale? Post your favorite Summer Activity here.~

Only the real old Fresnans will remember this one, but the Weymouth Swimming Pool (owned by my grandfather) on Whitesbridge road was built and opened in 1934. It closed in 1961 when I was 4 years old. It was located right at the west end of the Chandler field airport, about where the SPCA is located and highway 180 ends. The family house is still standing and the Pest control business by the same name still operates out of a building on the property. At the time it opened, swimming pools in homes were rare. It had a high dive platform that was 31 feet tall, about the same height as Blakley's out on Tulare and Clovis Ave.

There are lots of pictures of the pool floating around, pictures from WWII with the cars in the parking lot. The Fresno Bee used to run the photos and they are in the Pop Laval books "As Pop Saw It". My Mom had a job there in the 40's and for 25 cents, you got a towel, a hot dog and a bag of fritos. The business men and lawyers from downtown would come for a swim and lunch then go back to work. My grandmother would wash all the towels each night!

It was open at a time before chlorination in pool water was used so three times a week, the pool was drained, hand scrubbed clean, and filled again over night. This guaranteed that the water was always freezing cold! The 250,000 gallons of water was used to irrigate nearby fields and a grove of eucalyptus trees that are are still standing today. It closed when I was 4 and I was one of the first in my family that had to go to Airways for swimming lessons; how embarrassing for a Weymouth kid to need swimming lessons!

I swam at Weymouth. We lived on Whitesbridge Road for a while. It is barely a memory, I was about five years old when we left that area, but I do remember the pool. I guess I mostly waded, not sure if I really knew how to swim yet. I do remember getting in trouble one day for getting my hair wet because my mother had just given me a perm. I would love a picture of the pool way back then. I am writing my personal history for our kids and grandkids and am trying to get as many pictures as I can to go along with the memories.

I guess I should have mentioned in the post above that we lived there in the mid 40's. We moved from that area in 1948.

Here is part Weymouth at the moment. It is still there and the pool is now where highway 180 is now. It was filled in and is not visible anymore. But the house and office are still there, not sure when they were built but they are still standing and the Pest Control and Tree Care Business is still there operating to this day.

The picture below is of the large fountain that would be running back then, of course it isn't running anymore but it is still standing. The place has many tree's and is home to many birds and lizard's and bug's. It is being maintained and keeping green and full of trees for all the wildlife that still hangs out. There are quail, doves, a few families of Hawks large and small, tree squirrels, humming birds and all sorts of other little creatures.

Also if there are any more pictures of Weymouth Pool or even the Pest Control and Tree care from the past, Brad the current owner would love to see them and have them posted up at the office. I myself work there for Brad and it is a lot of fun learning about Fresno. He also likes the pictures posted above, would it be ok if we used them to print up and post in the office?

As mentioned upthread, the older public pools were drained three times a week. In the ad below, a public service announcement was run to try in calm the public's concern about health hazards in those pools. The "CONTRARY TO RUMORS BEING CIRCULATED" lead in line suggests that there was general concern amongst the general public. Or, could it has been a smear campaign to draw away buisnness?